§ MR. KINNAIRDsaid, he would beg to ask the noble Lord (Lord J. Russell) what 269 course had been adopted by Her Majesty's Government with reference to the criminal code passed last year by the Legislative Council of Malta, and sent home to be laid before Her Majesty in Council, which contained sundry new enactments adverse to religious liberty; whether the provisions of the said code (as far as related to offences against religion), of which a translation was furnished to the House in a return delivered on the 15th day of August last, had been adopted, altered, or cancelled; and whether Her Majesty's Government were prepared to furnish any further information of their intention in this matter?
§ LORD JOHN RUSSELLI think it is not quite correct to say that the criminal code passed last year by the Legislative Assembly of Malta contained provision adverse to religious liberty, without saying that this enactment was more favourable to religious liberty than the law previously in force. With respect to the hon. Member's question, I have to state that, as great objections were taken in this House to that code, and as some of those objections were considered to be reasonable, the whole code was disallowed by Her Majesty's Government. A new code has since been enacted and from this the whole of the chapter relating to offences against religion has been omitted.
§ MR. WALPOLEsaid, he wished to know if the noble Lord had any objection to lay the new code on the table?
§ LORD JOHN RUSSELLsaid, that he had not.